Improvement in fastening-slides for bed-plates of sewing-machines



UNITED STATES PATENT ()FFICE.

HENRY F. SAHNDERS, OF WESTFIELD, NEW YORK.

IMPROVEMENT IN FASTENING-SLIDES FOR BED-PLATES 0F SEWING-MACHINES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 131,907, dated October1,1872.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY FERDINAND SAHNDERS, of Westfield, in thecounty of Chautauqua and State of New York, have invented certainImprovements in Slides for the Bed-Plates of Sewing-Machines, of whichthe following is a specification:

My invention has forits object an improved attachment for securing theslide or slides from becoming displaced by the movement of the machine,the vibration due to the motion of its working parts, or by anyaccidental cause; and it consists in the arrangement of a button orfinger-knob, in combination with a guiding arm projecting longitudinallyfrom the under side of the slide-plate, said button engaging with a holeof corresponding size in the opposite or abutting slide-plate, or with ahole in the bed of the machine, when there is but one slide-plate, saidabutting-plate (or that portion of the bed against which the slideabuts) beinginclined on its under side, to enable the button to pass, bythe yielding of the arm, into the hole, when the two portions oftheslide, or the abutting portions of the single slide and bed, arebrought together, as hereinafter described.

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a portion of the bed or cloth-plateand slides of a sewing-machine having my device attached thereto. Fig. 2is a longitudinal section of the same.

In sewingmachines using a shuttle the top of the cloth-plate A isprovided with one or more slides, B (l, which are movable, to admit ofaccess to the shuttle and its removal.

The slides soon become loose in their fittings' by wear and friction,rendering them liable to slip out of place by the jar of working themachine, or by moving or inclining it, and by bein g accidentallytouched. This imposes constant watchfulness on the operator, and causesunnecessary trouble, loss of time, and often serious damageto the fabricby contact with the working-parts thus exposed, and with the oil usedthereon. I obviate'this difficulty by a locking device which isself-connecting and a longitudinally-proj ecting arm, a, attached to theunder side of the slide B. The arm a is of suitable length to sustainthe button I) in a position beyond the joint which divides theabutting-plates or slides, and the opposite one is provided with a hole,01, which the button enters, and thereby secures the two platestogether. The arm at is so constructed as to admit of the button (thenormal position of which is level with the surface of the slide) beingdepressed when it is brought, by the movement of the slide 'B, incontact with the part 0, (the proximate edge of which is inclined, asshown at 6,) and to this end it may be made of spring material, or rigidand jointed at its connection with the slide A, in which case it shouldbe held in position by a spring. The device is thus self-connectingwhenever the parts B and G are brought together, and is readilydisconnected by the pressure of the finger on the knob 11, to depress itbelow the surface of the slide or bed, when the slide B can bewithdrawn. In machines having but'one slide the hole for the receptionof the pressure-knob b will be made in the bed-plate A with the sameeffect.

The advantages of this locking device are, that it is perfectlyeffectual in holding the slide or slides from becoming displaced; thatit is disengaged from the top of the cloth-plate, thereby obviating thenecessity of the operator looking or reaching under to disconnect theslide 5' that it is self-engaging, and the arm, from extendinglongitudinally with the slide, is less liable to be broken in insertingor withdrawing, not being subjected to any strain transversely, as if itprojected laterally, and is less liable to catch in the fabric beingworked upon, or the clothing of the operator.

I claim as my invention- The device for securing sewing machine slides,consisting of the finger-knob b and yielding-knob a, with and arrangedto project longitudinally from the slide B, in combination with the holed and incline e of the opposite side or abutting portion of the bed,substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto signed my name in the presence oftwo subscribing witnesses.

HENRY F. SAHNDERS. Witnessesz' J. K. DRAKE,

(J. N. WOQDWARD.

